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by Missy



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21911803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Ariel returns.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elasmo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elasmo/gifts).



It’s not that she doesn’t love Eric or love the children. It’s that her body is half saline. It’s that she can’t walk by an ocean without sighing. It’s that she can’t even really imagine what life will be like when she hits 60 and has to spend her life walking hunched over, her bones aching, dying slowly – never again to know her sisters.

She leaves Melody a long note on her twenty-first birthday, then returns to where she belongs, step by step, motion by motion, into the icy sea.

When her father sees her he cries. 

And embraces her.


End file.
